Chairman of Finance Bank Zambia

Claim By The Ventriglia Family On Portland Cement Effectively Rejected By Supreme Court

During the period of 2006-2007, Dr. Rajan Mahtani took over the majority shareholding and legal ownership of the Portland Cement Zambia via an original shareholding agreement. Just after Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investment took over the business operations of the factory, it was disputed by the Ventriglia family. With their political power and unethical means, the Ventriglia family were able to question the legality of the original shareholders agreement which resulted in the case being approached to the Lusaka High Court. However, Dr. Mahtani only took this step after the Portland Cement Zambia factory was unethically taken over from Dr. Mahtani’s leadership. Despite having all evidences and testimonials, the case at the Lusaka High Court was dragged for more than a decade and the final decision from the Lusaka High Court was controversial to say the least.

After Lusaka High Court announced Ventriglias as the only shareholders of the Portland Cement Zambia, Dr. Rajan Mahtani immediately approached the higher Court of Appeal. Considering the controversial and misdirected decision from the Lusaka High Court, Dr. Rajan Mahtani thought it was the best strategy to approach a higher court considering he had all evidences and testimonials to support his claim. These evidences were submitted and on 31st January 2019, justice Mwinde on behalf of the higher Court of Appeal reversed the previous decision from the Lusaka High Court. In his fresh decision, justice Mwinde declared Dr. Mahtani as the majority shareholder and legal owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory.

However, it seems like the Ventriglia family were not happy with this decision from the higher Court of Appeal and approached even a bigger court, the Supreme Court Zambia, challenging the higher Court of Appeal decision on Portland Cement case. However, the Ventriglia family failed to comply with the critical requirement of registering case within 14 days of previous court decision. As a result, their claim against the higher Court of Appeal was effectively rejected.